The Pain of Love in Her Eyes
by freifraufischer
Summary: Snow's depression in the wake of Cora's murder drives her to ask two under qualified fairies to help take away her pain. The magical mishap reverts Snow mentally to sixteen when she seeks out the person most important to her world. Regina, a woman who nearly killed her a few days before.


_A/N: This was written for Snow Queen Week on tumblr, Day 2: Magical Mishap. It takes place shortly after the events of 2.18_ Selfless Brave and True _and deals with the fallout of Cora's death._

* * *

Snow was depressed and David didn't know what to do about it. He'd tried to reassure her when she'd confessed about going to Regina's house to have her rip out her heart. He'd told her that redemption was possible. That she was a good woman. But that only seemed to make things worse, and dredge up memories they'd both rather forget. Emma had told him flat out that he needed to stop coddling her, so he'd told her she needed to get out of the house, he didn't care where she went as long as it wasn't in bed all day. Going shooting in the woods had helped some, perhaps it would help more.

David was himself sullen in the car with Emma as they patrolled the streets of Storybrooke and they passed by the big white house on Mifflin Street. "This is all on her."

"Regina?" Emma asked surprised as he hadn't spoken much all morning.

"She has this hold over your mother. Always has. No matter how much she hurts Snow, Snow always comes back to her."

"David, she did murder Regina's mother."

"To stop Cora," he said surprised. "You were there. You know it had to be done."

"Yes. But it's probably best we don't pretend how she did it had a cost."

"Now you are on Regina's side?"

"No," Emma said with a shake of the head, "Just... it's not going to do Mary Margaret any good to pretend that everything is rainbows and kittens when she clearly does think she did something wrong."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of David's cell phone going off. He looked at it with surprise, "The Blue Fairy?"

"Maybe it's about August..."

He answered the phone, "Yes. Yes. She did what? We'll be right there."

He hung up, "Emma we need to get to the convent as fast as possible... something's happened to your mother."

...

The convent of the fairies always seemed like a peaceful place. Sometimes Emma wished she could just stay in their gardens for days and not think about her crazy stressful life. But the fairies, for all their smiles and politeness never seemed to feel the same. One of them told her once that it was part of her energy, that it was incompatible with the magic of the place. The subject of magic in general made Emma uncomfortable, and hers in particular was a subject she wasn't interested in pursuing so she had let it drop.

The Mother Superior met them outside with two clearly chastened nuns standing behind her, "I'm sorry David, if I'd known what they were trying to do I would never have allowed it."

"Allowed what?" David asked confused.

Blue looked over her shoulder and bid one of the fairies forward. "The Princess came to us. She was in so much pain and asked if there was anything we could do to erase it."

"What's so wrong about that?" Emma asked.

"Because you can no unburden a soul with magic. At least not without altering the fabric of the person. And..." Blue looked over at them, "These two are still novices in training. They were not supposed to have access to dust."

"The Princess brought it to us. She got it from the mine..."

David blinked, "What?"

"Raw fairy dust unrefined is dangerously unpredictable. When their spell went awry they called for me but by the time I got there Snow had run away."

David was alarmed, but Emma tried to keep a level head, "What exactly happened to her?"

"I'm not sure," Blue confessed, "Apparently she asked them if they could bring her back to a time when she hadn't lost herself..."

Just when Emma was about to ask another question her phone rang and she saw that it was Regina calling. "I really don't have time to play evil games right now, Regina."

"And hello to you too Sheriff. I need you to come over to my house."

"I'm busy. It can wait."

"I suppose it can but I won't make any promises about how long I can have your mother sitting in my kitchen making those doe eyes."

"She's in your kitchen!?"

"Unfortunately yes."

"I'll be right over. I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't kill her in the meantime."

She'd left David with the fairies hoping that they might be able to reverse whatever they'd done to Mary Margaret. Emma walked up the path to the house, mentally preparing herself for a fight which last time did not end well for either of them. Just as she was about to knock Regina opened the door, and strangely looked relieved to see her.

"Your mother is in the kitchen."

"What is she doing there?"

"Helping me bake. Apparently." Regina rolled her eyes and before Emma could ask another question she beckoned Emma to follow her. "I don't suppose she's been playing in fairy dust has she?"

"How did you know?"

"The traces of the magic are all over her." What Emma wasn't prepared for was a kitchen covered in what was clearly a big baking production and in the middle of it, Mary Margaret, wearing a frilly apron and cutting up apples. "Snow, do you remember Emma?"

The perky yet vague smile made Emma's heart sink, "No, but I meet so many people at the balls lately. Would you like to join us. My stepmother is showing me how to make apple strudel."

The alarmed look on Emma's face was met by a tight smile from Regina, "It seems Princess Snow here is looking for ideas for her sixteenth birthday banquet. I thought giving her something to do might keep her from bothering the house servants."

"I can be so careless and Regina helps me understand when I'm making too much extra work. Father doesn't always see..."

Emma grabbed Regina by the arm and pulled her into room.

"What the hell?"

"This is my fault?" Regina asked offended but apparently not surprised.

"That we can debate another time. I mean what's going on with her?"

"You tell me. She showed up at my door, for the second time this week, and I had the great joy of encountering your mother at sixteen again. An experience I assure you as insipid and unpleasant the first time around."

"So you invited her in to bake?"

Regina shifted a little before the mask came back, "If she came to grief you would have just blamed me for whatever she did to herself. What did she do to herself?"

"She asked a couple of fairies to take away her pain. Brought them fairy dust from the mines."

Regina raised an eyebrow, "Raw fairy dust is not something to be messed with."

"So I'm told." Emma said with no small amount of frustration.

"It obviously acted like a memory spell. Took her back to a time ..." Regina mumbled something Emma couldn't hear but went over to a side board and pulled out an ornate box.

"What is that?"

"My potion kit."

"She's not going to drink anything you make..." Emma folded her arms.

"Emma she's been drinking my apple cider all morning. If I wanted to poison her..."

"...again..."

Regina rolled her eyes, "If I wanted to kill her I'd have done it when she came to my door and asked me to rip out her heart. What I want most now is to get the teenage version of your mother out of my life. Again."

Snow was looking at them through the door way, or rather Emma realized she was looking at Regina adoringly.

"Go take your mother back in and help her bake while I make up a potion to fix this."

Emma reluctantly took Mary Margaret back into the kitchen.

"Isn't she wonderful?" Princess Snow asked, "You should see her on a horse. I win ribbons and all but she's the best horsewoman in the kingdom..."

Emma nodded slowly, "She's... something."

Regina came back into the room with a small packet of what looked like dried leaves, "Would you like some tea?"

"I'd love some!" Snow said, "And after maybe you could help me pick out a dress."

Regina turned away but Emma could see her roll her eyes. A few minutes later there was a steaming mug in Snow's hand. She thanked Regina with an angelic grin and took a sip. A moment later she dropped the mug when she saw where she was.

"What am I doing here...? I was going to the fairies."

"To kill yourself. You should really tell your family those kinds of things." Regina said as she folded her arms, "I liked that mug."

"Kill herself."

Mary Margaret looked down, "The only way to erase the pain of a life is to not have lived it. Now would you two kindly get the hell out of my house."

Emma knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth and motioned for her mother to leave with her. Still she paused at the door once Mary Margaret got half way to the car, "Why help Regina? You hate her."

"I do. And the last thing I need in my life is to be reminded that there was a time when she didn't hate me. Please keep a better eye on her, Miss. Swan. When your mother tries to act selflessly other people get hurt."

The door closed and left Emma to wonder what that meant.


End file.
